By Serhiy ZGURETS, The Day
A council of Cossack commanders in Kyiv has attempted to define the
Ukrainian Cossack strategy
in the coming presidential elections.
True, it did not reach a final decision, and the details will have to
await the next scheduled Cossack Grand Council in May.
Meanwhile, as People's Deputy, General, and Supreme Otaman Ivan Bilas
said, it is important for the Cossacks not to get pulled apart into the
camps of various political parties and for this public organization to
maintain its unity. Also true, this was said with an eye to the new law
on presidential elections, which denies public organizations the right
to nominate their own candidates to the state's highest office. Thus the
Cossacks' ideological unity is like the state's gold reserve, for it determines
the weight of Hetman's mace in negotiations, tactical and strategic agreements
with those who are preparing for the presidential race. But first the Cossacks
have to make it clear among themselves who can seek the role of single
candidate of the national-patriotic and statehood-oriented forces.







